It was said at the trial that they led a cat-and-dog life.
I would not go as far as that - Mrs Crale had too much dignity for that term to apply - but they did have quarrels.
And I consider that that was only natural under the circumstances.
I had been with Mrs Crale just over two years when Miss Elsa Greer appeared upon the scene.
She arrived down at Alderbury in the summer of 19--. Mrs Crale had not met her previously. She was Mr Crale's friend, and she was said to be there for the purpose of having her portrait painted.
It was apparent at once that Mr Crale was infatuated with this girl, and that the girl herself was doing nothing to discourage him.
She behaved, in my opinion, quite outrageously, being abominably rude to Mrs Crale and openly flirting with Mr Crale.
Naturally Mrs Crale said nothing to me, but I could see that she was disturbed and unhappy and I did everything in my power to distract her mind and lighten her burden.
Miss Greer sat every day for Mr Crale, but I noticed that the picture was not getting on very fast.
They had, no doubt, other things to talk about.
My pupil, I am thankful to say, noticed very little of what was going on. Angela was in some ways young for her age.
Though her intellect was well developed, she was not at all what I may term precocious.
She seemed to have no wish to read undesirable books and showed no signs of morbid curiosity such as girls often do at her age.
She, therefore, saw nothing undesirable in the friendship between Mr Crale and Miss Greer.
Nevertheless, she disliked Miss Greer and thought her stupid.
Here she was quite right.
Miss Greer had had, I presume, a proper education, but she never opened a book and was quite unfamiliar with current literary allusions. Moreover, she could not sustain a discussion on any intellectual subject. She was entirely taken up with her personal appearance, her clothes, and men.
Angela, I think, did not even realize that her sister was unhappy. She was not at that time a very perceptive person.
She spent a lot of time in hoydenish pastimes, such as tree climbing and wild feats of bicycling. She was also a passionate reader and showed excellent taste in what she liked and disliked.
Mrs Crale was always careful to conceal any signs of unhappiness from Angela, and exerted herself to appear bright and cheerful when the girl was about.
Miss Greer went back to London - at which, I can tell you, we were all very pleased!
The servants disliked her as much as I did.
She was the kind of person who gives a lot of unnecessary trouble and forgets to say thank you.
Mr Crale went away shortly afterward, and of course I knew that he had gone after the girl.
I was very sorry for Mrs Crale. She felt these things very keenly.
I felt extremely bitter toward Mr Crale.
When a man has a charming, gracious, intelligent wife he has no business to treat her badly.
However, she and I both hoped the affair would soon be over.
Not that we mentioned the subject to each other - we did not - but she knew quite well how I felt about it.
Unfortunately, after some weeks, the pair of them reappeared. It seemed the sittings were to be resumed.
Mr Crale was now painting with absolute frenzy.
He seemed less preoccupied with the girl than with his picture of her. Nevertheless, I realized that this was not the usual kind of thing we had gone through before. This girl had got her claws into him and she meant business. He was just like wax in her hands.
The thing came to a head on the day before he died - that is, on September 17th.
Miss Greer's manner had been unbearably insolent the last few days. She was feeling sure of herself and she wanted to assert her importance.
Mrs Crale behaved like a true gentlewoman. She was icily polite but she showed the other clearly what she thought of her.
On this day, September 17th, as we were sitting in the drawing-room after lunch, Miss Greer came out with an amazing remark as to how she was going to redecorate the room when she was living at Alderbury.
Naturally, Mrs Crale couldn't let that pass. She challenged her, and Miss Greer had the impudence to say, before us all, that she was going to marry Mr Crale.
She actually talked about marrying a married man - and she said it to his wife!
Chapter 9 I was very, very angry with Mr Crale.
How dared he let this girl insult his wife in her own drawing-room?
If he wanted to run away with the girl he should have gone off with her, not brought her into his wife s house and backed her up in her insolence.
In spite of what she must have felt, Mrs Crale did not lose her dignity.
Her husband came in just then, and she immediately demanded confirmation from him.
He was, not unnaturally, annoyed with Miss Greer for her unconsidered forcing of the situation. Apart from anything else, it made him appear at a disadvantage, and men do not like appearing at a disadvantage. It upsets their vanity.
He stood there, a great giant of a man, looking as sheepish and foolish as a naughty schoolboy. It was his wife who carried off the honors of the situation. He had to mutter foolishly that it was true, but that he hadn't meant her to learn it like this.
I have never seen anything like the look of scorn she gave him.
She went out of the room with her head held high.
She was a beautiful woman - much more beautiful than that flamboyant girl - and she walked like an empress.
I hoped, with all my heart, that Amyas Crale would be punished for the cruelty he had displayed and for the indignity he had put upon a long-suffering and noble woman.
For the first time I tried to say something of what I felt to Mrs Crale, but she stopped me. She said, "We must try and behave as usual.